Sound Kapital, Creative Asia’s first major production for 2012, and the largest showcase of Beijing rock to hit Australian shores yet, went off with a bang last week at Carriageworks in Redfern. The night began with an artist talk by Matthew Niederhauser, photographer and author of the acclaimed photo work Sound Kapital: a visual documentary of the explosive underground music scene in Beijing. Matthew spent 7 years documenting the emerging local rock scene at iconic underground music venue D-22 in the university district of Beijing, which is also the home of China’s largest indie record label, Maybe Mars.

The main event of the night then kicked off with live performances by three of China’s hottest indie bands; Nova Heart, AV Okubo and Xiao He, staged alongside projections of iconic images of Beijing’s music scene by photographer Matthew Niederhauser, and Bay 17 was rapidly transformed into the heaving depths of Beijing’s underground music clubs. Audiences loved it, even managing to get a rowdy moshpit going in Carriageworks (perhaps a first?) to the beats of Nova Heart and AV Okubo. Check out SBS video of the night here:

Sound Kapital was presented by Carriageworks and Creative Asia, and was an associated event of the City of Sydney Chinese New Year Festival. Thanks to Maybe Mars, Matthew Niederhauser, Shaun Tenzenmen, AV Okubo, Nova Heart, FakeMusicMedia, and Xiao He for their participation and support.